Game moved to the new server, and to the http://s1.imperialages.com domain. ImperialAges.net redirects to the IP of the server for now, and starting tomorrow it will redirect to the s1.imperialages.com domain.

update: the move is delayed until Sunday

2-3 hours from now, we will be moving the game to the new server. It will probably be down for around half an hour. Raywall and Tony are configuring the new server now, and when they’re done they’re going to move the database to the new location. During that period the game will be down.

You might be automatically redirected to an ip address instead of the .net address that you’re used to for the next few days, as the DNS updates, but you’ll still be able to play the game normally. The final address of the server will be s1.imperialages.com , the url we wanted since the beginning for the first server. ImperialAges.net will keep redirecting to the new url, for those that are used to the old address.

And for those interested:

Old server:

• Processor: Athlon XP 1700+,
• 512MB SDRAM
• 30 GB HDD

This little guy served over 1 million page views in the last 6 weeks, but it’s time to move on, especially as the HDD is starting to fail.

New server:

• Processor: Dual Core Xeon 3060 – 2.40GHz (Core2Duo) – 1 x 4MB cache
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• 2 x 250GB SATA II HDD’s

We’re really hoping for a lot less downtime on this new server.

PS: normally, we would give at least 24 hours warning before moving, but the downtime today was caused by bad sectors appearing on the old server’s HDD, so we can’t risk staying on it any longer.

One month since we launched Imperial Ages as a beta, 2100 registered players later(not all active though) and over 700,000 page views served, it’s a good beginning, and hopefully it will be even better in the second month.

The stats aren’t bad considering that it’s our first game and we don’t have any kind of budget for advertising and bringing new players.

As for the plans for the next period, Raywall has a one week vacation that he’ll use to track down the last bugs and to work on new features for the game, Mars is working on a quick tour for the game, Alex on writing down the last pieces of the VIP on paper, and Tony is implementing the VIP.

Probably two weeks from now we will move to a better server, and the game should move faster at that point. The VIP should be ready around that time also.

If you have ideas that you would like implemented in the game as a regular feature or as part of the VIP package, let us know, either by email at alex[at]imperialages.com (replace the [at] with @) or in the forums, in the Suggestions & Ideas section.

Had some problems updating the database version today, while we were preparing for the upcoming move to a better and more stable server. It was fixed eventually, so the game is up and running again.

Next post, on the 26th, one month after the game was launched. Raywall is coming also in our city that day, so we’ll plan on the next steps that need to be taken.

The problems we had with the DNS and the www.imperialages.net domain seem to be fixed now. It wasn’t anything we could do about it, we just had to wait for it to be fixed, and it finally is. It should propagate to everyone in the next 24 hours, but you can still use the IP address until then.

We seem to have some problems with the DNS settings of the game. Until they’re solved, you can access the server at this ip address.

Update: problem should be fixed, but it will take 1-2 days for the DNS to propagate again. You can access the server in the meantime by using the IP address above.

Well, Mars worked his ass off and did the game’s history. Unfortunately the blog’s theme messed up the way it looks, so it’s a bit hard to read. Anyway, if you want to give it a shot, the game history is here.

And now for the updates uploaded to the server today, fixed bugs and improvements:

• Latest battles and scout reports from the alliance now showed in the Battles tab of the alliance.
• You can now cancel an army attack or reinforcement, in the first 5 minutes of travel. After that the troops can’t be recalled.
• Trading now has a 2 to 1 limit. So you can ask for half the number of resources you’re offering, or double. Not more, not less. The NPC trading remains the same, 4 to 1.
• In the simulator, you don’t have to manually insert the first defender anymore, it’s inserted automatically, as it was normal.
• You can send messages to multiple recipients at the same time, by inserting the ; sign between the names. So a message sent to 3 people at the same time would have this at the recipient:  User1; User2; User3
• On the front page of the alliance, you can now see the long name of the alliance as well, not just the short one.
• The Events tab in the Alliance should now work properly and display news of interest about the alliance.
• The Alliance Forum link can now only be seen by the members of the alliance.
• Where you can see a name of a player or an alliance, those should be clickable links now, going to the player or alliance profile. If we missed any, let us know.
• Uploading the alliance banner should work every time now.
• The Player and Alliance Search in the statistics area is modified to show only those that contain the searched string.

That’s it I think. Great work from the programmers today.

Well, one week (and 14 hours) has passed since we launched the game, and we have 850 registered players now.

Here are a few things that were fixed/added today in the game:

1. You can leave an alliance now. You can find the button in the Consulate building.
2. Sent messages should be saved automatically from now on in the Sent tab from the Messages area.
3. You can now see the list of members of other alliances, even if you’re not a member.
4. Sitters can be logged in at the same time as the main user, or as the other sitter. Previously, you could only log in as a sitter if the main user wasn’t logged in.

Mars worked a bit on an article about the history of the game, since we started talking about it, and I’ll post it as soon as I translate it to English (in 12 hours or so).

Until we manage to put all this data in the manual, you can download below the excel file with the production of the resource fields at each level and the costs.

Resources (Excel file)

Also, I’ll try to explain today how the battle works in general. It will be up in the manual in the next few hours.

Update: you can see the war page of the manual here.

Well, it’s 61 hours now since Imperial Ages was launched as a beta and we’ve had high points, and low points, but in the end we’re satisfied of the beginning.

Number of registered players right now: 559

First of all, if you use the unit details excel file, you should download it again. I accidentally uploaded an older version, so it wasn’t the same as the units on the server. Only a few units were different.

And don’t think we’ve been sitting on our behinds these last 2 1/2 days. Here are some of the bugs that were fixed:

• changes in the player profile and village name weren’t saved
• when replying to a message, the receiver got an empty message
• text entered in the alliance and profile description fields were all in the same paragraph. Should be a bit more easy to arrange now.
• a message appearing in the trade office that looked something like "Nan nana na" .. well .. it’s fixed
• not being able to cancel an invitation to join an alliance
• the soldiers gold consume wasn’t included in the total village consume

Deleting the account and the password recovery aren’t fixed yet, but they will be in the next few days.

Remember, if you like the game, let your friends know about it. The more people play it, the more fun it is.

Suggestions and questions can go either on the forums or by email at contact@imperialages.com